Toronto's 1st Africentric school set to open

'Black learners in Canada' by Rosalind Hampton  

This article examines the concern and desire for Africentric public schools, particularly in Montreal, Canada. This movement generated a great level of controversy. The author argues that a community based educational program for Black youth would be a great idea. Black youths would gain significantly because it would allow them to root their learning more closely in the life experiences and needs of their community. These Africentric schools were seen as opportunities given to students to participate in inclusive and ethno-culturally- centered learning environments. Black youths will be encouraged to learn more about their life experiences and provide them with new ways of understanding and responding to the world around them. This can be seen as a positive development for their community. It will also allow knowledge and reality of education that responds to the crisis in the public school systems.  

            The author states that the knowledge of race and racism is a huge concern. Racism is a social structure that produces inequality. She employs a pragmatist approach to the understanding of race and racism. This theoretical understanding relates to Howard Winant, who we discussed in class. Winant pragmatist’s approach is that race is constructed but it is related to racialized experiences and social structure. He explains race to be an idea, practice or an identity. Furthermore he defines racism as signify practices that essentialize according to racial categories or concepts. Racism is a social action that produces inequality and a social structure that reproduces inequality. The author’s treatment of race and racism and inequalities are seen in the education of Black learners. Narratives that were written by Black students about the pressure and, inequalities were expressed. A survey was done within African Canadian secondary schools and results showed that most black learners were “dropping out of the system because they felt a sense of racial and cultural alienation and marginalization” (Rosalind Hampton 2010 p 104). The idea of race being an identity is seen in the article. That identity as Black learners is the cause of alienation, being seen not a part of the school environment or even out of place. The social structure is so conformed to the regular system of those superior in fact they sometimes forget or are not concerned about others. Others in this case would be the Black learners and their racial inequalities.

            Both students and teachers were interviewed. The students spoke strongly about alienation and lack of support. Teachers “failed to recognize any problems in the educational system and instead, identified factors within the students characters, the characters of the students families or the students’ earlier educational experiences”, (Rosalind Hampton 2010 p 105). Teachers were seen as unsupportive and looked down on Black learners. Instead of finding fault in the educational system white teachers were looking for fault in the students. In my opinion this is how race was socially constructed. On page 105 of the article teachers responded with, “construction of drop outs as socially and deficient in their families, their values and their attitudes towards education”. Teachers believed that it was something known to their type of people.

            The term ‘color-blind’ also came up in the article. The term ‘Color blindness' was introduced by a Marxist philosopher, Charles Mills. Mills saw race as a social reality that read its effect. He explains that racism favours whites over all others. The Black students also inherent problems of Canadian identity, they are being marked racially. In the article it stated that “Canadians claims to be color- blind in education, and in other contexts, were closely related to an emphasis on homogeneity and the denial of the significance of ethno-cultural heritage and lived experiences of racism”, page 105. In my opinion you can say or believe that skin color may not matter but in many cases secretly it affects a situation. Although Canadian teachers claim to be color blind they still pay more attention to Whites and western culture. They do not focus on the social equity and diversity of Blacks. The focus is more on the Whites, which is seen as racist by the teachers. Why not talk about Blacks and their culture? This is a social disadvantage, black history is removed in a sense, it is not talked about in great detail compared to the White and western culture. Skin color is definitely an important factor in the construction of race, but it doesn’t stand in for race in its own. 

            In class we also discussed a bit about Frantz Fanon and his phenomenological approach. Fanon looks at personal experiences and our affect as explanations for social phenomena. A racial schema is the developed and we are then defined through others. In this article Black learners’ personal experiences are being shared. They tell us how they feel and because some feel as though they are being racially judged they put no heart in learning. In my opinion if the majority of the time you are discouraged by those superior White Canadians it will be difficult for you to stand strong and fit in.

            Another way racism was shown was through the ‘Africentric algebra’ cartoon, page 106. This cartoon was said to be racist towards Blacks. Racial epidermal schema is being portrayed. They are hinting at the way Blacks look and how they speak, ‘S’up Dog?’. In many ways this was seen as negative; negative cartoons about Africentric education. This is a topic not many show concern about. Black learners are looked down on and these requested Africentric schools would bring more positivity to them. It would increase self-esteem and help in decreasing drop out rates. It will also encourage and motivate an academic interest. Because of racism many Black learners doubt themselves and as a result they create a hostile attitude towards education and their future. White Canadians usually objectify those different from them.

            The idea of community- based education is seen as a solution. With this Black learners are able to embrace their histories and cultural traditions and also notice their cultural differences that makes them unique. The issue is whether or not Africentric schools should be placed in Canada. Here in the article we can see that Africentric schools are not supported by the White Canadian teachers. The author explains that these community based education initiatives can support the movement of Africentric schools. This would allow Black learners to be on a personal note with their teachers, who would then give them the encouragement they need to go on dealing with the racism given by the Whites.